Just-Ice Reveals Vivid Details About The Day Scott La Rock Was Killed (Video)
Boogie Down Productions co-founder DJ Scott La Rock is a Hip-Hop luminary that much of the world never got to properly know. On August 27, 1987, the DJ/producer born Scott Sterling was killed, less than six months after B.D.P. released debut Criminal Minded.
One of B.D.P.’s close affiliates was MC Just-Ice. From the same Bronx borough, Just teamed with producer Kurtis Mantronik (of Mantronix) to release Back To The Old School in 1986. Known for aggressively calling out peers in verse, on stage, and in the streets, Just’ is widely considered an architect of Gangsta Rap. In the a trailer for the debut episode of WHO?MAG TV Hip Hop Talk, he recalls being with members of Boogie Down Productions, just minutes before Scott La Rock’s death.
Just-Ice revealed that on that very day, a Sleeping Bag/Fresh Records agreement was made for B.D.P. to produce his sophomore EP Kool & Deadly. “After we signed the contract, we went to McDonalds [in Manhattan]. It was all of [Boogie Down Productions], plus RoboCop was with us,” recalls Just-Ice of the B.D.P. affiliate shouted out on “I’m Still #1.” He says this just after the 1:00 mark. “We was eatin’, and [KRS-One] got a phone call from [D-Nice, who needed help]. By us being on 68th & Broadway and he was [in the Bronx], we was like, ‘Yo, we’re stayin’ here.’ [Robocop] was like, ‘We gonna go up there, and I’m gonna get [D-Nice].’ Scott was like, ‘I’ll go with you.’ That’s the last we ever seen of Scott.”
“Scott didn’t even know he was shot. According to RoboCop, they was drivin’ and all of a sudden Scott [grabbed his neck, and then fell down]; his head hit the mothafuckin’ dashboard [with a gunshot wound behind his head]. And it was a .22; that’s what you call a lucky motherfuckin’ shot, man. If you’ve ever been to Webster Projects, those buildings are like 17 to 20 stories high. [The shooter] was on the roof!”
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In early 2014, DJ D-Nice—also part of B.D.P. told Combat Jack about the same events, from what he witnessed. At 40:00, he opened up about what prompted him to make that phone call, which he says was to Scott—not KRS. The would-be MC, producer, and DJ was jumped in the Bronx, allegedly over flirtatious advances made to a woman. At the time, D-Nice (whose real name is Derrick Jones) was a minor, and had been introduced to professional music through Scott. He said that when RoboCop and Scott La Rock arrived in the Bronx (joining himself, Manager Mo, and McBoo), they rode in search of the assailants in a Jeep Wrangler, arriving at the High Bridge Houses. “It was really a mission of like, on some peaceful shit. It became violent because of one individual.” That person was RoboCop, who both he and Just-Ice also refer to as “Darryl.”
As D-Nice recalled in ’14, RoboCop was outside of the project houses asking people if they knew where the crew was who assaulted D-Nice. After somebody had a verbal disagreement with RoboCop, things got violent. “All we saw was Darryl lift this kid in the air—and Darryl was probably 6’5″—lift him up in the air and just slam him. And that was that.” “Somebody was in the bushes, somebody ran to the roof, and they just started shooting at us.” D-Nice continued, “We get into this Jeep Wrangler; Darryl was driving, Scott in the passenger seat, McBoo on the left side—behind the driver, I’m in the center, Manager Mo [is on the right]. They’re shooting at us. Darryl pulls off; I see Scott swerving. Then, I can literally see the blood coming out of his head.”
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In the 2014 Combat Jack interview, D-Nice said the violent loss of his mentor prompted him to move out of the Bronx. He also says that even then, he would not be able to identify the culprits. Just-Ice alludes to the shooter showing up in 1980s Hip-Hop club, The Latin Quarter in early 1988. “Then the son of a bitch…about seven months later, [the shooter] showed up at the Latin Quarter. He must’ve thought nobody’d recognize him!” “Somebody recognized him and they said, ‘that’s the man that shot Scott [from] the roof!’ That’s all it took.” The details of what transpired are presumably in the full length of the discussion. According to Celebrity Crime Files, authorities apprehended Cory Bayne and Kendall Newland. However, no witnesses would testify—leaving this murder unsolved.
KRS-One would join Just-Ice in producing 1987’s Kool & Deadly.
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Elsewhere in the trailer to episode #1 of WHO?MAG TV, Just-Ice touches upon coming armed to the Queensbridge Houses to see Screwball member Blaq Poet, pioneering Gangsta Rap (he is seated beside Geto Boys founder DJ Ready Red), and more. The full episode and others to follow will air on Thursdays from 9:30pm to 11pm EST on Wild Fire Radio. The episodes will also be available on other digital formats after each airing.